Sea Otter Enduro - What she said

There is nothing like a holiday down to sunny California in April to perk up and pull you out of your winter blues. And if that trip includes heading over to the Sea Otter Classic, then you know you are in for a great time. The sunshine was uplifting, although my Vitamin D deprived skin couldn’t handle its full force and by the end of day one, I was a brighter shade of florescent red.


The Laguna Seca raceway provides an excellent location to stage the Sea Otter Classic, being surrounded by rolling hills for the XC races, magnificent winding tarmac for the road races and one of the best dual slalom tracks I have ever seen.

The Enduro race is a format that is new to the Sea Otter schedule, which was introduced in 2014. While not having a specific Enduro race course, the race is designed to showcase the rider with the best abilities over a range of race disciplines; Stage 1 being DH, Stage 2 and 3 being XC, and Stage 4 being Dual Slalom.

Thursday Race-day was hot and dry. Our race was delayed by a half hour due to an injury during practice and riders not having enough time to return to the start line after practice. Nerves were running high, being the first race for the season and being my first race in a few years that was out of my home region. After having 2 practice runs of stage 1, that morning, it was time to give er’.


Stage 1 comprised of the DH course, start to finish. Jumps, berms, one rock, a dusty chute, and a pedally finish. By the end of the run, all of the riders were gasping for air and running to the drink station. The dry dusty air had had an undesirable effect.

Heading out to the XC course for Stage 2 offered the riders incredible views of the area north of Monterey with the ocean off in the distance. Starting off on a fire road winding down the ridge line with various pinch climbs to test the lungs out, then ducking into the trees of flowing single track where the soil turned to sand. If you didn’t pre-ride this course, it was easy to be caught off guard by the blind corners, sand traps and the 100m road sprint to finish.

Climbing our way back up to the start of Stage 3 brought us out onto another vantage point to take in the beautiful views and take a little pit stop. Stage 3 was probably my favourite. Foot out, flat out. It started with an easy fast climb on single track which turned into fast flowing descent. Similar to stage 2, I had not pre ridden this stage and it made for some very exciting moments.

The riders were not given the opportunity to pre-ride stage 4, the dual slalom track. And with our arrival to the last stage, everyones nerves were beginning to heighten. The riders were required to navigate their way through the flagged flat turns, large rollers and even larger, almost inverted tight berms. Many of the riders had never ridden anything like this before and the thought of having to race it really made them feel uneasy.


Thankfully, all riders made it to the finish unscathed and overwhelmed with their achievements. Starting the day all nervous and worried, but ending triumphantly and empowered with what they were able to accomplish.

Thank you Sea Otter for an amazing day. I already can’t wait to do it all again next year.